Postal services
The first postal service on The Land was established in Tonad in LY 231, to deliver mail between Tonad and First Village. Until that time, it had been almost unheard of for anyone to write letters, as there was only one village until 225, so if people wanted to communicate, they could just get together in person. And any goods one might wish to purchase could be acquired at the market. Therefore, there was no need for a postal service. However, obviously when the Land's second village was founded, it meant the settlers left friends and relatives behind, and over time they began to miss them. And the journey between villages was too long (about 1000 miles) to travel for casual visits. Also, while it was essential for both villages (and all that would subsequently be founded) to be as self-sustaining as possible, certain things still had to be imported to Tonad, especially in the first few years of its existence. By the same token, the people of Tonad soon began producing items which had never existed in First Village, to which they now exported those items. Contact between the villages was limited to traders and adventurers, and both types of people were often given letters to deliver. Sometimes they did this as a favor, and sometimes they were paid for it. This is how things went for six years after Tonad's founding, until finally someone came up with the idea of starting a company the sole purpose of which was to deliver mail. At first the postal service strictly delivered letters between villages, but eventually it began also delivering within each village. In addition to letters, the service also began delivering packages. Over the centuries that followed, as more villages were founded, more postal services were established, often in competition with one another. Even once the postal services had been well established, there were still people who entrusted their mail to either traders or adventurers, but another type of company which was eventually utilized for mail delivery were the transportation sevices that sprang up around 625, upon the development of stagecoaches. These were a new type of vehicle designed so that people could book passage between villages for trips. (Until then, aside from traders, adventurers, and the postal services, it was extremely rare for anyone to travel between villages except to move permanently; in fact, even today it is still relatively rare for anyone to travel far beyond their home village.) While transporting people on such trips remained the main purpose of stagecoaches, which were mostly owned by the taxi companies that had been in existence within villages since around 400, the drivers would often also be given mail to deliver. And soon, various postal companies began acquiring their own stagecoaches to deliver mail, largely replacing their earlier use of covered wagons. In 902, during the Coming of the Order, when people were beginning to think about the possibility of establishing a united world government, it was suggested that such a government might establish a postal service of its own, and possibly even making independent postal services illegal. (Even if such a law wasn't passed, a nationalized postal service would likely put many independent delivery services out of business.) However, for reasons that did not become clear until 912, the government that was established in 904 opted not to start its own postal service. However, the delivery of letters was greatly reduced upon the introduction of t-mail, which in itself put a few of the smaller postal services out of business. Ironically, considering one facet of magic served as a detriment to such services, the introduction of the internal enchantment engine in 911 proved a great boon to such companies (though it proved a mixed blessing in 913, when the Transportation Department began requiring all drivers to obtain driver's licenses). It should be noted that not all aspects of the Coming were detrimental to postal services. As early as 900, following the first World Fair, companies in various villages began distributing mail-order catalogs, so that customers could order products from villages other than their own. This was part of the Plan to bring the world closer together, and it certainly served to increase the business of various postal services. Category:Groups Category:Culture